turney



(No Model.)

J. E. TURNEYQ GRAIN DRIER.

No. 581,794. flztented May 4, 1897.

llNTTnn STATES JOHN E. TURNEY, OF OAK PARK, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO THE I. E.

DRYING MACHINERY COMPANY.

PATENT @rricn.

GRAIN-omen.

SPEGIFIGATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 581,794, dated May 4, 1897.

Application filed December 6, 1895. Serial No. 571,223. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JOHN E. TURKEY, a subject of the Queen of Great Britain, residing at Oak Park, countyof Cook, and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Grain- Driers, which are fully set forth in the following specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part thereof.

This invention relates to mechanism fo r drying grain, malt, meal, sand, orother substance which can be similarly handled' The special utility of certain of its features is found in its adaptation to drying such substances as brewers grain anc distillers slop, so called, or other substance containing when dried some portion of very fine meal or unpalatable material or dust.

It consists in improvements in the devices for introducing the drying current, hot air or gas, and in devices for maintaining a sufficiently tight junction at the end of the dryi ngcylinder, whereby a waste of the power of the fan is prevented.

In the drawings, Figure l is a vertical axial section of a drier embodying my improvements, the flights for carrying up the material being shown over a part only of the length to avoid confusing the view and the pipe through which the air is introduced being shown in elevation through a part of its length. Fig. 2 is a section at the line 2 2 on Fig. 1.. Fig. 3 is a detail section of the receivinghead at the line 3 on Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a detail section at the line 4. at on Fig. 1. Fig. 5 is a perspective of one of the flights. Figs. (3 and 7 are end views of similar flights differingfrom the one shown in Fig. 5 and from each other in carrying capacity.

Ais a metal cylinder which, for the purpose for which my improvement is customarily applied, may be from twenty to sixty feet long and about six feet in diameter. The cylinder is supported upon rollers B B, the, which are preferably mounted in pairs upon an evener B, pivotally supported at the middle point of its length at b on the standards B mounted upon the foundation B The cylinder A has bands A aeneircling it at intervals throughout its length, which afford the immediate bearing of the cylinder on the rollers B 13, &c.,

the rigidity of these bands being sufficient to prevent the tendency of the cylinder to fiatten by its weight. In order to check the cylinder against longitudinal movements by which it might slip from its supports, I extend up from its brackets B on each side of the vertical plane of the bands A, spindles B on which are journaled horizontal checkrollers 13 which bear upon the opposite sides of the band A. The band a has rigid With it a spur-gear rim a the pitch-line of the gear being coincident with the periphery of the band a, and on the foundation which supports the brackets B underneath this band there is mounted a bracket B in which is journaled a shaft 0, having agear C meshing with the gear-ri 111 a power being communicated to the said shaft in any convenient mannor to rotate the cylinder by any engagement of the gear O with the gear-rim a The cylinder A is open at both ends, as the material to be dried is designed to be de1ivered into it at one end and discharged at the other end, being fed through it by means of inclined flights or carrying ledges or shelves D D, due, with which the cylinder is provided on its inner surface throughout its circumference and length. These devices will be more particularly described hereinafter. At its opposite ends the cylinder A communicates with its fixed heads, termed, respectively, the receivinghead E and the discharge-head F. The receiving-head E is the head through which the air is exhausted or drawn out through the cylinder and the discharge-head is the one through which the pipe enters that conducts the drying-current into the cylinder. The movement of the drying-current is therefore contrary in direction to that of the material which is subjected to its action, the latter being fed through the cylinder against the drying-current. It is at the junction of these heads with the cylinder that the greatest diiiiculty has heretofore been experienced from the waste of power of the fan by reason of the aperture between the cylinder and the heads, the former of which is rotated while the latter are stationary, the cylinder being exposed to contraction and expansion as it is heated and cooled and differing in the degree of such expansion from T URNEY V the opening of the latter.

the heads, and, furthermore, being very large and usually made of boiler-iron with lapjoints, so that it is practically impossible to make afmachine-flt between the cylinder and the head where the former protrudes into To overcome this difficulty, avoiding also the difliculty of making a radial discharge-mouth either for the cylinder or the head, I make between the cylinder and the discharge-head a buttjoint, and for the purpose of such butt-jointIprovide collars A. A having flanges A A mounted outside the cylinder and fitted as closely as desired to the cylinder A, onlyproviding that they will slide on the cylinder, and by using asbestos packing between the two a nearly air-tight joint may be made which will still permit the necessary sliding movement of the collar. Such joint I have found it feasible most easily to produce by means of an asbestos cement or paste between the cylinder and the collar, which paste, becoming dried, shrinks just enough to allow the collar the necessary freedom .for longitudinal movement, the cement occupying all the inequalities in the circumference of the eylinders mouth and makes it unnecessary to form a machine-seat for the collar thereon. To hold the collars A with the flanges A up against the flanges E F, respectively, I bolt onto the cylinder a little back from'the collars, respectively, angle-brackets A A, &c., and screw into the collar the stems or bolts a a &c., the brackets being drilled horizontallyto admit the bolts or stems a and springs a a", &c., being coiled on the bolts or stems a to react against the brackets at one end and against the collar at the other end, tending to hold the collar forward against the flanges E and F respectively. The range of action of the springs is suflicient to accommodate all the-change of length of the cylinder due to contraction and expansion and other causes operating during the use of the drier, and so to keep the junction of the cylinder with the heads practically air -tight. The saving eifected by this means compared with the means heretofore customarily employed amounts to from twenty-five to forty per cent. of the fan-power required.

The discharge-head F is supported upon the solid foundation F and its chamber or interior cavity extends below the level of the lower side of the cylinder and there is located in it at the lower part a conveyer K, by

. whichthe dried material delivered from the cylinder is conducted away to another point of storage.

and carry it thence up around the cylinder and gradually through it, as hereinafter described. At the remote end of the cylinder, which constitutes the receivinghead IE, it merges in a cylindrical fan-case E, which usually need not be of the full diameter of the head or of the cylinderA, and the reduction of the diameter from the cylinder E to the cylindrical fan-case may be gradual and by a tapering portion E as illustrated. The fan employed is a simple oblique fan while revolving in the cylindrical case and in tended to produce a movement of air axially through itthat is, lOllgltUCllllZtllY with respect to the cylindrical head E and drying-cylinder A. The fan and head E being most conveniently mounted 011 separate foundations from the cylinder A and there being some liability to settling usually on the part of the cylinder, which, with its supports, is of great weight, it is desirable to provide for such slight adjustment of the end of the head E where it protrudes into the receiving end of the cylinder A, except that friction occurs at the abutting flanges, which are held together by the springs c For the purpose of making such vertical adj usiment the end of the cylinder E toward the cylinder A is supported in a sling or saddle II, which is merely a metal strap extending about the lower half on the cylinder E, having its ends threaded and inserted through eyes 7' in brackets J, secured to the sides of posts ]5 k, which are erected at opposite sides of the cylindrical head E, nuts h it being screwed onto the bolt ends of H H above said lugs, whereby the sling or saddle and the cylinder E resting in it may be raised or lowered as will be necessary.

Another feature of my invention relates to the flights or carryin -shelves D. The purpose of these flights is to pick up the material as the cylinder revolves, carrying it up at one side and dropping itdown as the shelf or flight passes over with the revolution of the cylinder, so that the material falls through the hot-air current, is caught again by another flight, and again carried up and dropped, thus being kept constantly falling through the hotair current. The inclination of the flights causes the grain also to move by sliding longitudinally on the flights as it begins to fall off of them, thereby landing at the bottom of the cylinder a little farther on than when it was first picked up, so that each new trip that it makes up at one side of the cylinder and down through the open space advances it somewhat through the length of the cylinder, causing it eventually to be delivered from the opposite end of the cylinder. The rate at which it is thus advanced longitudinally through the cylinder will depend, obviously, upon the inelination of the flights, and they are made adj ustable from the exterior of the cylinder, each flight having the stem D", which protrudes through the cylinder-wall and is ac cessible at the outside and provided with a IOC IOC

IIC

jam-nut D whereby the flight will be secured at the inclination to which it is adjusted. This adjustment will vary with different grains, or grain in different condition, and will vary also at different points in the length of the cylinder, because as the grain becomes dryer it will slide more easily, and less inclination is necessary to produce a given rate of advance. For the same reason the natural stickiness of the material when moist, which varies with the different substances, will be considered when adjusting the inclination of the flights. The more important feature, however, of these flights is their form in transverse section. If they were simple flat shelves projecting substantially radially from the wall of the cylinder, they would begin to deliver the grain over their edges almost as soon as they lift it, and they would be empty and bare very soon after passing the level of the axis of the cylinder, because upon passing that level they would begin to incline down inwardly and their contents would slide off. It will be evident that with such a structure the stream of grain falling from the shelves would be limited not only to the lower portion of the cylinder, including scarcely any above the middle plane, but also would be limited to the sides of the cylinder, and no grain, or scarcely any, would fall through the cylinder at the middle part of its horizontal width. The result would be that the obstruction to the heating-current being all at the sides and the center being without obstruction the hot air would pass freely through the empty middle and do no good, and the side portions, where the grain would be falling, would be almost entirely without benefit of the air-current. On the other hand, if the shelves or flights were made all equally upturned at their inner edges they might be made to carry the grain up to any desired point before pouring it off, but they would all carry to substantiall y the same point, and the grain would all fall, therefore, in one stream or sheet at that point, and all the remainder of the cross-section of the cylinder would be open and free to the passage of the air-eurrent, which would thus at best only have an opportunity to act upon the grain at two sides of the falling sheet or shower with somewhat better effect than in the first case supposed, but still with very much less effect than if the grain could be caused to fall at all points of the cylinder in about equal quantity, so that the air-current through the cylinder would meet equal resistance at all points in the transverse section of the latter. By this means not only would the air-current be prevented from conti ning itself to one path,avoiding the portion of the cylinder which is occupied by the grain, but on the contrary the grain falling in a uniformly distributed shower would encounter a substantially uniform]y-distributed air-current and the full drying effect of the latter would be experienced. I succeeded in producing this result by making the flights D so that they tend to deliver their contents some soon after the flights have passed the level of the axis, some a few degrees farther up, and some still farther up on the same side, some not until the flights are overhead, and some not until they have gone still farther down on the returneurve. The inclined direction in which the grain is discharged off the shelves or flights makes it unnecessary to carry the deliverypoint much beyond the top or point directly over the axis, because even from that point the grain is discharged downward toward the other side, and thereby a substantially uniform shower of falling grain is produced through the cylinder. For the purpose of illustrating the various degrees of inclination and various positions of discharge of these flights I have shown the several progressive forms in figure, designating them, respectively, D D D, and all of these forms I include when referring to them generally by the reference letter D. The variation of the points of delivery of the flights of these different forms may be produced merely by upturning the inner edge in a lip d of greater or less width of a less or greater angle to the radial plane in which the stem of the flight is located. A somewhat more accurate variation may be produced by. dishing or curving the flights, as seen in Figs. 5, 6, and 7, making the curve extend through a less or greater are, according as the delivery is to be produced earlier or later in the course of the revolution of the cylinder. The difference between these two methods is slight in practice, and the principle is the same in both.

Another feature of my invention relates to the form of the device employed for delivering the hot-air currents into the cylinder. Two points are to be observed: First, it is desirable to introduce the drying-current not all at once at one end, but at as many different points throughout the length of the cylinder as possible, so that the grain may constantly encounter air or gas in the dryest con dition and capable, therefore, of absorbing the greatest quantity of moisture from the grain. It will be understood that if the drying-current is introduced all at once at the end of the cylinder at which it enters it will be more or less completely saturated by the time it reaches the other end. Even when it is introduced at two points the same difficulty is not wholly avoided, because the air introduced at the first point is to a degree saturated when it encounters the grain farther on in the cylinder and before the second supply of air is introduced. I aim, therefore, to introduce drying air or gas practically at all points, or at least at a large number of points throughout the length of the cylinder, so that everywhere the grain shall encounter a fresh-that is to say, unsaturateddryingcurrent. The second point of importance to be considered is that since to deliver the drying-current at different points in the length of thecylinder the duct by which such current is led to different points must extend throughout the cylinder the grain falling constantly through the cylinder as the latter rotates is liable to lodge on this duct and be scorched. Both of these points are observed, and the advantages and difiiculties involved in them are respectively attained and avoided by the structure whichI adopt and which is illustrated in Fig. 2, which shows the hot-air or gas conduit or supply-duct L leading from the furnace M throughthe center of the head F. Thence extending axially through nearly the entire length of the cylinder A is the tapering pipe L, which is supported by strips N, extending to the cylinder at any convenient number of points, and which at its wider end, being somewhatless in diameter than the pipe L,protru-des through the central opening in the head F into said pipe and is closed at the opposite extremity, the discharge -from such pipe within the cylinder being through apertures Z Z. Z, &c., arranged in circumferential rows at short intervals throughout the entire length of the pipe L and having a total area sufficient to permitthe discharge of the air which enters the larger end of the pipe L without materially retarding the current and not sufficient to permit all the air to escape through a part only of the apertures. Practically, therefore, the area of the apertures is not materially greater than that of the receiving end of the pipe L,

' and in order that the distribution of the discharge of the air along the pipe throughout the cylinder may be as complete as possible not only is it desirable that there should be a multiplicity of apertures for the escape of the drying-current from the pipe and that such apertures should be distributed at a multiplicity ,of points in the length of the pipe, but that the cross-section ofthe pipe should diminish steadily and continuously, corresponding at any point substantially to the extent of the apertures remaining beyond that point. This result is not attained merely by providing two or three points of discharge, but requires a multiplicity of points of discharge, so that the result approximates substantially a continuous discharge throughout the whole length of the pipe. Neither is the desired result attained by merely distributing the points of discharge without steadily reducing the pipe, because the air that escapes at an earlier point diminishes the quantity in the pipe beyond that point and thereby diminishes its tension and tendency to escape if the capacity of the pipe is not correspondingly diminished, so that in practice a distributive discharge isnot obtained by distributing the openings without tapering the pipe. Each row of apertures l is shielded or hooded by a conical frustum L secured at its narrower base to the outer surface of the conical pipe L and opening forwardthat is, toward the smaller end of the pipe L. The apertures Z being thusoverhung by the shields L the grain falling through the cylinder does not fall into them, and the hot-air blast emerging from the pipe solely through the apertures Z under the shields each shield is swept clean of any grain which might lodge upon it by the blast emerging from the mouth of the shield behind it and driving forward over theouter surface of the next shield in front. In the same manner the first shield is swept clean by the blast which emerges through the annular opening between the pipe L and the pipe L. By these means, therefore, I not only distribute the drying-current in unsaturated instalments substantially throughout the entire length of the cylinder, but I keep the pipe by which it is thus distributed free from any grain which might otherwise be burned by falling on it.

I clai n1- 1. In a drier in combination with a horizontal, rotating cylinder; a fixed head with which it communicates at either end; such head having a flange which faces in the direction of the length of the cylinder; a collar mounted on the cylinder having a face adapted to seat against the face of the flange on the head; such collar being adapted to slide longitudinally on the cylinder; and springs reacting between the cylinder and the collar to hold the latter yieldin gl y against the flange of the head.

2. In combination with a horizontal dryingcylinder adapted to be rotated about its axis; the receiving-head protruding into the receivin g end of the cylinder; said head having suitable supports at the end remote from the cylinder; and a saddle or sling which supports it at the end next the cylinder lateral posts towhich the ends of said sling are connected; and suitable means for vertically adjusting said ends of the sling; whereby the receiving-head may be raised and lowered at its connection with the cylinder.

3. In combination with the cylinder, the receiving-head suitably supported at the end remote from the cylinder; the posts at opposite sides of said head near the end which communicates with the cylinder; the eyebolts set through said heads and the sling extending underneath the head and having threaded ends inserted upward through said eyebolts respectively and adjusting-nuts above the latter, whereby the head may be adjusted vertically by means of the nuts substantially as set forth.

4. In a drier, in combination with the rotating cylinder adapted to receive material to be dried at one end and deliver it from the other end, a pipe located centrally within such cylinder and extending substantially or approximately throughout the length thereof, said pipe being open at one end and there communicating with the source of supply for the drying-current and being continuous and continuously tapered from end to end and provided with a multiplicity of apertures distributed throughout its length at a multiplicity of points at short intervals, whereby the delivery of air is distributed throughout the length of the cylinder and the volume of the drying-current at any point of the length of the pipe corresponds substantially to the extent of the apertures for its escape remaining beyond such point.

5. In a drierin combination with a horizontal rotating cylinder adapted to receive the material to be dried, at one end and deliver it at the other end; a pipe located within such cylinder and extending substantially throughout the length thereof, such pipe being open at one end and there communicating with the source of supply of the drying current, and being restricted as to discharge at the other end, and provided with a multiplicity of apertures arranged in circular rows at short intervals throughout its length, the total area of such apertures being not substantiall y greater than the cross-section of the receiving end of the pipe; each circular row of apertures being overhung by a flaring shield secured at its narrow end to the outer surface of the pipe; whereby the drying-current being forced to discharge through all such apertures is delivered in subdivided blasts which sweep respectively over the outer or rear surface of said shields respectively; as and for the purpose set forth.

6. In a drier consisting of a horizontal, rotating cylinder adapted to receive the material to be dried, at one end and deliver it from the other end; flights or ledges for carryin g up the material as the cylinder revolves and dropping it transversely through the cylinder; such flights having their edges over which the material is thus delivered, upturning to detain the material to cause it to be carried by the flight past the horizontal plane of the axis; such flights being made in a plurality of forms differing, in respect to the angle of such upturned lip to the radius of the cylinder; whereby the material is delivered by the flights of the different forms over different parts of the breadth of the cylinder; substantially as set forth.

7. In a drier consisting of a horizontal, rotating cylinder adapted to receive the material to be dried, at one end and deliver it at the other end; flights or ledges projecting from the inner Wall of such cylinder to carry up and drop the material to be dried, as the cylinder rotates; such flights being dished or hollow in the form substantiallyof cylindrical segments, to adapt them to carry the material past the horizontal plane of the axis;

' such flights being made in a plurality of forms differing in respect to the depth of the dish or number of degrees of their cylindrical extent; as and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand, in the presence of two witnesses, at Chicago, Illinois, this id day of December, 1895.

JOHN E. TURNEY.

\Vitnesses CHAS. S. BURTON, JEAN ELLIOTT. 

